Joe Kusar,

For more than 25 years, Joe has been applying his diverse experience in personal banking, physician group/private banking and commercial/middle-market banking to serve business owners, high-net-worth families, healthcare professionals and retirees. His wealth of experience as a banker, helping individuals grow their businesses and analyzing their long-term financial goals has been invaluable to his career as a financial advisor. With this mindset, Joe is equipped to take a more comprehensive approach to pursuing both an individuals’ more immediate-term professional and business goals as well as their long-term personal financial goals.

As a Certified Financial Planner™ professional, Joe holds one of the most respected financial planning credentials and the recognized standard of excellence in personal financial planning. His goal is to customize a plan for each client designed to give them the vision and confidence to enjoy their life and retirement.

Joe’s job satisfaction is rooted in building authentic relationships with his clients to see things from their perspective. Problem-solving to get the core of a client’s concern is a cornerstone of his practice. His integrity and dependability are paramount to building trust with his clients.

Having faced a significant curveball in life when faced with a leukemia diagnosis at age 44, Joe understands firsthand the importance of taking inventory of financial planning to protect his family and reconciling what is really important in life. Today, he applies this experience to help clients determine what is most important in their lives and incorporate it into their financial planning. “Not everything is measured on a spreadsheet,” Joe adds.

Prior to joining Raymond James, Joe served as a senior vice president at the Bank of Colorado and senior vice president of middle market banking at RBC Bank. He was also vice president of commercial and private banking at Sun Trust Bank. In these various roles, Joe has provided financial solutions and delivered credit, depository, treasury and related banking services to small growth businesses, companies with revenues ranging from $5 million to $250 million, healthcare professionals and professional service firms in Southwest Colorado.

Joe earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Western State College of Colorado and a Master of Business Administration degree from Georgia State University.

Joe has been active in numerous community organizations for many years throughout his career. He was a founding member, past president and treasurer of The Arc of Southwest Colorado Board of Trustees; a board member and past president of United Way of Southwest Colorado; a board member of the Durango Arts Center and Durango School District 9-R. In 2023, he was honored for his community service by the Durango Chamber of Commerce, which named him the Bill Mashaw Volunteer of the Year.

Joe was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and raised in several cities, including Richmond, Virginia; Atlanta; Pittsburgh; and Perry, Georgia. His parents are second-generation Slovenians raised in Cleveland – and were the first in their family to go to college.

Joe moved to Durango, Colorado, in 2009 when his wife, Mika, joined the Fort Lewis College School of Business faculty as a professor of strategic management. They live here today and have two sons, Cole and Tatum. In their free time, the family enjoys alpine skiing, hiking and biking in the surrounding San Juan mountains. Joe is a Certified Alpine Level 3 Ski Instructor and has been teaching skiing for 27 years in Colorado and Australia. He is a member of Professional Ski Instructors of America and currently teaches the local Durango adult ski groups for Purgatory Mountain Resort.